Postal carriers pick up food donations

Letter carriers across Iowa will be delivering the mail today but they’ll also be picking up our donations of food for the Stamp Out Hunger campaign. Mark Drusch, a letter carrier from Webster City, says post offices nationwide are taking part in the effort to help those in need.

Drusch says, “This is our 18th year of the food drive and this year will put us over the one-billion pound mark as far as the food we’d collected and delivered to local food banks around the country.” Drusch has been a letter carrier for 16 of those 18 years and he says the effort continues to grow every year. He attributes the success to very generous donations from the public. All people realize, Drusch says, the need is much larger this year, given the economy.

He says a USDA report shows it was the largest-ever increase in the number of people needing help from last year to this year, people who live in “food insecure households.” Drusch explains how easy it is for Iowans to lend a hand in the food collection campaign. Just leave non-perishable food items in a bag near their mailbox and letter carriers will pick them up and take them to places like Upper Des Moines Opportunity, agencies that distribute the food to pantries in several locations.